I was an unlikely superstar. I was shy when I was growing up and used to get
embarrassed very easily. My biggest fear was always — and to a lesser degree
still is — the notion that everyone’s laughing at me but I don’t know it.

Michael was not the only Olympic legend to have suffered from a lack of
confidence during his formative years.

“As a kid and even as a teenager, I wouldn’t say boo to a goose,’ says Sir
Steven Redgrave, five-time gold medal-winner in rowing. Heavily dyslexic,
Steve, who had two older sisters, struggled with schoolwork.